third, the government as decided -- has decided, third, the government has decided with the agreement of the bank of england to transfer excess cash held in the asset purchase facility to the exchequer. this is sensible cash management, this it is in line h the approach of the bank of japan and the u.s. federal reserve. i welcome the verdict that this is more transparent than the previous approach. i want to make sure its impact on the figures is also completely transparent, so we have forecast the public balances with and without the impact of the apf decision. of mr. speaker, when we came to office, the deficit stood at 11.2%, the highest in our peacetime history. it was forecast to be the largest of any major economy 2349 world. in the last two years, the deficit has fallen by a quarter. today's figures show that with or without the apf coupons, the deficit is forecast to fall this year as well. and cash borrowing is forecast to fall too. last year the deficit was 7.9%. this year with the apf coupons it is forecast to be 6.9%, but that excludes the aspect of the royal mail pension